Magnetic picture hanger



May 1, 1962 Filed May 25, 1960 T. R. BRADSBY MAGNETIC PICTURE HANGER 2Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG...?

INVENTOR. THOMAS R0) BRADSBY ATTO/PNE S May 1, 1962 T. R. BRADSBYMAGNETIC PICTURE HANGER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 25, 1960 7 2 8 Z 7 Z6 Z m m m m THOMAS ROY BRADSBY BY M M @Vl? ATTORNEYS Un te te P ten A3,031,799 MAGNETIC PICTURE HANGER Thomas Roy Bradsby, 40 Terrace Court,Los Gatos, Calif. Filed May 25, 1960, Ser. No. 31,653

3 Claims. (Cl. 50-22) This invention relates to permanent magnet picturehangers in general.

An important object of this invention is to provide one or morepermanent magnet devices imbedded in or mounted behind the plaster orwall board construction to cooperate with a magnetic bar attached to thebackside of a picture to be supported on the wall structure by thepermanent magnet devices.

Further details of this invention will be set forth in thespecification, claims and drawing in which briefly:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a wall provided with a permanent magnet pictureholder device of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a back view of a picture frame provided with a bar of magneticmaterial adapted to cooperate with the permanent magnet shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view along the line 33 of FIG. 1 showing thepicture frame shown in FIG. 2 supported by the magnet;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the magnet and bracket assembly;

FIG. 6 is a side view of a wall provided with a modified magnetstructure;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line 77 of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the magnet and bracket assembly shown inFIGS. 6 and 7.

Referring to the drawings in detail, there is shown a magnetic pictureframe support that is adapted to be imbedded in the plaster or otherwall structure of a room at certain points thereof where it is customaryto hang pictures whereby it is not necessary to disfigure the wallstructure with nails or other projecting picture hanging supports. Thusby employing this invention the walls always maintain an unmarredappearance since it is not necessary to drive nails into the Wall forsupporting pictures thereon.

In accordance with this invention, there is provided a metal, wood, orplastic bracket 12 that is equipped with laterally extending andportions 13 and 14 which are adapted to be attached by means of thenails 15 to the vertical 2 x 4 studs 10 and 11. A horseshoe shapedmagnet 16 made of steel or suitable alloys such as alnico, comol orvicalloy as described on pages 66 and 67 of the May 9, 1946 issue of theIron Age, is supported on the bracket 12 by means of the screw 17 whichis positioned in suitable holes formed in this bracket and in themagnet. The magnetic poles of the magnet 16 extend through the plasteror wall board structure 18 to the outersurface thereof and these polepieces are covered by a thin layer of wallpaper or paint layer 19 sothat they are not visible. This layer 19 is not thick enough to reducethe holding power of the magnet to a point where it is insufiicient tosupport the picture.

A bar 21 of magnetic material is cemented by cement such as epoxy resinor the like 22 to the backside of the picture frame 20 as shown in FIG.2 and in supporting the picture frame 20 on the wall the bar 21 ofmagnetic material is placed in line with the poles of the permanentmagnet so as to be firmly attracted and held thereby.

Where it is desired to provide a permanent magnet structure ofsubstantial area, the structure shown in FIGS.

3,031,799 Patented May 1, 1962 6, 7 and 8 is employed. This form of theinvention employs a plurality of stacks 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 and 32 ofsmall wafer shaped permanent magnets which may be of ceramic or sinteredmetal composition. These stacks are supported on the bracket 23 betweenthis bracket and the plate 42 which are both of magnetic material, bymeans of the machine screws34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39 and 40, respectivelyextending therethrough. The bent ends 24 and 25 of the bracket 23 areattached to the 2 x 4 studs 10 and 11, respectively, by suitable nailsso that the faces of the magnet stacks 26-33 are positioned flush withthe front of the plaster or wallboard 18 and they are covered by thewallpaper or paint layer 19.

The magnet stacks 26-33 may be arranged in different ways to provide astrong magnetic field on the front of the wall. Thus the magnet stacksmay provide alternate north and south poles on their front faces, thatis, each of the front faces of the stacks 26, 28, 30 and 32 may presenta north pole whereas the intermediate stacks 27, 29 and 31 may eachpresent a south pole. On the other hand the wafers of these stacks maybe arranged so that the south poles thereof for example are on thebottom so that the bracket 23 forms the south pole and the north polesof all the stacks are at the top and the plate 42 forms the north pole.I Thus the bracket 23 functions as one of the poles of the magnet andthe plate 42 functions as the other pole of the magnet thereby producinga strong and well defined magnetic field spread out over a lengthcomparable to the length of the magnetic member 21 on the back of thepicture frame. Thus strong magnetic pull is brought into play over asubstantial length of the member 21 so that this arrangement may beemployed for supporting relatively heavy pictures.

While I have shown a preferred embodiment of the invention it will beunderstood that the invention is capable of variation and modificationfrom the form shown so that its scope shouldbe limited only by the scopeof the claims appended hereto.

What I claim is:

1. In a magnetic picture supporting device adapted to be positioned inthe wall of a room so as to set up a magnetic field over an area of theexposed front face of the wall where a picture is to be supported, thecombination of a permanent magnet, a bracket having a length equal tothe distance between adjacent studs in the wall structure on which apicture is to be hung, said bracket having end portions abuttingopposing surfaces of said adjacent studs, means for attaching said endportions to said studs abutted thereby, means for attaching said magnetto said bracket so that the magnetic poles thereof are imbedded in saidWall structure and the pole faces thereof are substantially flush withsaid wall surface and are hidden from view only by the finish paint orwall paper applied to said wall surface, and a bar of magnetic materialattached to the back of a picture to be supported on said wall when saidbar is magnetically gripped by said permanent magnet.

2. In a magnetic picture supporting device adapted to be positioned inthe wall of a room so as to set up a magnetic field over an area of theexposed front face of the wall where a picture is to be supported, thecombination of a plurality of permanent magnets, a bracket having alength equal to the distance between adjacent studs in the wallstructure on which a picture is to be hung, said bracket having endportions abutting opposing surfaces of said adjacent studs, means forattaching said end portions to said studs abutted thereby, means forattaching said plurality of magnets to said bracket so that the magneticpoles thereof are imbedded in said wall structure with alternate polesthereof being of opposite polarity, the pole faces of said magnets beingsubstantially flush with said wall surface and being hidden from viewonly by the finish paint or wall paper applied to said wall surface, andan elongated bar -of magnetic material attached t the ba 0 a P ct re aidbar ha a ng h ex e over all of said pole faces whereby sufiicientmagnetic attraction is developed to support a relatively large pictureon said wall when said bar is magnetically gripped by said permanentmagnets.

3. In a magnetic picture supporting device adapted to be positioned inthe wall of a room so as to set up a magnetic field over an area of theexposed front face of the Wall where a picture is to be supported,thecom bination of a plurality of permanent magnets, a bracket having alength equal to the distance between adjacent studs in the Wallstructure on which a picture is to be hung, said bracket having endportions abutting opposing surfaces of said adjacent studs, means forattaching said end portions to said studs abutted thereby, meansineluding an overlaying elongated member for clamping said plurality ofmagnets into a row on said bracket so that the magnetic poles thereofare imbedded in said wall structure and the pole faces thereof aresubstantially flush with said wall surface and are hidden from view onlyby the finish paint or wall paper applied to said Wall surface, and anelongated bar of magnetic material having a length extending over to theback of said row of magnets, means for attaching said bar to the back ofa picture to be supported on said wall when said bar is magneticallygripped by said permanent magnet.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,789,124 Wever Jan. 13, 1931 2,233,334 Austin Feb. 25, 1941 2,414,653 ILookholder Jan. 21, 1947 2,507,559 DAndrea May 16, 1950 or was

